Variety is the spice of life

Viswaroopam - A movie that has been the talk of the tinsel town for the past few weeks. Usually movies by Kamal are prefaced by controversies. But this movie has controversy written all over it. A movie that has highlighted the hypocrisy of everyone. A movie that has showcased the growing intolerance. A movie that has, once again, highlighted the callous nature of our government and a toothless system - be it judiciary or any government organisation. A movie that has brought to light the gnawing and growing divide between the lack of co-ordination and control between center-state form of governance. You can keep reading things, both in fine print and in obvious bigger fonts, but most of the events surrounding the movie are something that is not specifically attributed to the movie alone. Its too much even for the fame crazy Kamal. When the initial trailer's were released, many people didnt had a favourable opinion about the movie. Soon came the bombardment of them. With ev...

Before leaving for Miami, we managed to sneak a visit to Universal studios - Island of Attractions. Unlike Disney, there was hardly any crowd, the day we went. Probably because it was on a weekday and rain was forecast ed for most of the afternoon. Disney nyabagathula we applied for fast passes, despite crowd being thin only to realise that the pass was not free, for starters and were as costly as the original ticket itself!!! Irunthaalum, we opted for it. One good thing was, we hardly had to wait for more than 5 minutes on any queue, which even without the fast pass was max. half hour. Amazing spiderman and Harry Potter were the two rides that were highly recommended for us and we started the tour with Spidey. It again was a 3D ride, which, even before you could realise and attach yourself to it, ended abruptly. Its just a 10 minute ride and you would need multiple trips to enjoy it more. Note: If you are going for fast pass in Universal, better opt for the multi visit per ride pass...

Nethu "Neeya Naana" program paathavangaluku intha postoda reason velangirukum. For the uninitiated, yesterday's topic was a brand new one. Never before debated on Indian television. Avlo en..ulaga varalaatrileye muthal muraiyaaga intha topic was taken up nu kooda sollalam. Avlo pudusu. "Love marriage" for and against. Ithaan antha topic. Tv thondri remote thondraa kaalam thottu itha thaanada pesitrukeengannu solreengala. Apdiyum ithuku oru result irukara mathiri therilaye. Clear pannama arrearsa poatu thallara Discrete Mathametics exam paper mathiri, epo intha topic eduthaalum show pichikitu poguthu. A topic, never bereft of controversies. And the latest episode was no vithivelakku as well. But unlike all previous other times, in this one, the reason was out right in the open as to why people oppose love marriages. Probably and most possibly, the show was stage managed and ghost walked into the conclusion to get that "awe" effect. But that, it was ...

Not sure if it was because we went on christmas-new year time or in general the park is set like that, there was a festive atmosphere all throughout. Christian missionaries need not break sweat in their conversion efforts. They just need to get a season pass for those people they want to convert and the Disney's "Once upon a Christmas" parade and the electric dance parade will take care of the rest. By the time we left Disney, "Rudolph the red nose reindeer" ,"Feliz navidad" and "Once upon a christmas" songs were ringing non stop on mind. They were so catchy and the setup so colorful, christmas sounded so cheerful and colorful and happy in Disneyland. As mentioned in previous posts, a word on the management. AMAZING. They fit right into the description of clockwork precision. Whethere its lunch queue or rides queue or queues moving in and out of the park, the way the manage the entire setup is awe inspiring. Especially at the lunch counters...

I forgot to mention an interesting ride in EPCOT. Its the soaring in the sky ride. Again, a ride hell bent on making you disoriented :) But the more such rides you take, the mind acclimatises to those jerky twisty movements and i almost enjoyed it. Its like your normal ranga raatinam kind of setup where instead of rotating at ground level, they take you around 30 feet high and not just rotate, it moves forward backward sideways according to the changing scenery on the screen which is omnipresent. The screen is so huge, you feel as if you are really flying over the golden gate bridge and other landmarks of California.                                                          ...

Since we had already taken the pass, we directly went to the queue. A word on the queues - awesome. Considering the huge..really HUGE..number of people who visit these parks from world over, i guess Disney would've invested as much in studying about crowd management as much as they spend on maintaining and updating the park. More on it in coming sections. There were 2 queues. One for people carrying bags and one for those without, which incendetally was moving thrice as fast as the other queue. Why i mention this specifically here is that, if you dont carry any bags, you can actually save around half an hour. Considering that the park operates on a time schedule and the vastness to cover in a limited period, it really helps. But unless you are a bachelor carrying just a camera, its a highly impossible task to avoid any bags. It was predominantly  a ladies queue. There is a mono rail right at the entrance to take you to other parks. Since we were fresh from our NASA trip, ...

For those who grew up watching cartoons in the pre Cartoon network era, where like the news channels at that time, the toons were also limited to Mickey,Minnie,Pluto,Goofy, Tom n Jerry and it was a time when even the marvel comics superheroes were more decent in their appearance, with well combed hair and bulging biceps automatically implied physical strength. It was a time when all the cartoons and comics had a simple ending - happily ever after. It was a time when stories where mere stories and implied nothing more than triumph of good over evil. No one debated on why good was GOOD and bad was BAD and why not the other way round. The "why not" ers came in much late and before their advent, life was simple in its own unassuming way in toonland. Much before the march of the Japs into toon world, Disney had created a make believe setup, with their sugary syrupy symphonies and cute little characters. No one was ugly and even the beast was beautiful. Frogs turned into princes an...

2013 - the year that almost wasnt. Of all the 30 odd years that i've been through, 2 years stand out. One is the year 2000, millenium year. The next one being 2012 - the superstar year of the doomsday. It had been in news from more than 2 years prior and as the day approached it would have been the most searched year in google history. In many ways, 2012 was year of dares for me. I stretched myself beyond my wildest dreams and ventured into things i never ever will do it again in my life. Apdi enna saaathichitennu kekareengala. Ellam vazhakkam pola sappa matter thaan still for me it was like !!!! As i mentioned before, the year started with conquest of fear over water rides, extended into kitchen and cooking and culminated in the mother of all vacations i've ever had in my life. Infact, if i sum up the number of days i ever went on a vacation it might still be slightly lesser than this one trip!! Like "Thenali" kamal i am scared of everything. Especially the panja...

New year, new post..Namma thalai style la oru post podalamnu thalaraparattai thanama trying :D Varusha varusham ethachum oru varietyana newsku Iceland maatikarathay vazhakkama poachu. A 15 year old girl has sued the Iceland government. Ennada matternu paatha, Iceland government had left her nameless (YES..this is no grammatical error or something..she had been literally nameless for 15 years!!) Iceland has strict laws on how to name the kids and they've a approved list of names it seems. If your name doesnt fall into the list provided, then you would be addressed just as a guy or a gal. Poor Blaer, has been addressed all these years as "Stulka" or gal in every government document. Antha ponnu veruthu poitu ipo suing the government. The reason why the government disapproved her baptized name is that it sounds masculine it seems. Ithu theriama antha oor priest by mistake intha ponnuku paiyan perula baptize pannitaaram!! Icelandic naming conventions are even more funnier. ...